How to tag a Pallet with RFID

Tagging a pallet with RFID is a very common practice in the supply-chain industry. Pallet tagging can be accomplished by placing an RFID tag directly on the pallet, or building the tag into the pallet itself. Typically, RFID tags are placed on a shrink wrapped area of a pallet so that they are disposed of when the shrink wrap is removed.

Absorption

The RF absorption is dependent on the contents of the pallet. Cardboard, plastic, and wood have low absorption and can be easily tagged. Glass and liquids cause slightly higher problems but tag placement can be easily adjusted to accommodate them. Metal pallets or pallets containing metal objects need to take into consideration the tag placement and possibly use a metal-mount RFID tag if appropriate.

Placement

Common placement of RFID tags on pallets is on a shrink wrapped area of the pallet. If you are tagging the contents of the pallet with carton-level tags and using pallet-level tags for the pallet, be sure not to apply a pallet-level tag directly to any of the items on the pallet. Shippers may often decide to place the tag on the pallet itself and re-use that same pallet ID for multiple shipments. The best placement for a re-usable pallet ID would be behind a wood beam on the pallet, or molded into the base of a plastic pallet.

Pro-Tips

• Expected RFID Read Ranges

  • • 4"x1" Gen2 RFID - 20' minimum, 40' average, 60'+ with optimization

• Expected Costs of RFID Tag

  • • Costs for a blank RFID tag for a pallet can range from $0.20 each to $0.30 each depending on the tag inlay and label material. Pre-programmed RFID tags range from $0.99 on quantity 1, to $0.59 for large quantities (5,000+).

• What RFID tag sizes are there?

  • • Sizes for a complete RFID label designed for tagging pallets can be as small as 4"x3/4" and as large as 4"x6"

• Adhesives will fail before the RFID tag

Tag Recommendations

The best tag to use for pallet tagging is the NOX-1 4"x3/4" RFID tag. The NOX-1 includes a 4"x1" peel-off traveler label that can be placed on a document for record keeping.

Other recommendations:

• TX-2 RFID Tag

• TC-1 RFID Tag

  • TS-1 RFID Tag